Differentiating between evidence-based health care and non-evidence based health care.
This project was born out of experiences in a non-evidence based program (posing as a therapeutic facility) called Straight, Inc.

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What was Straight Inc.?

What was Straight Inc.?

We’ve touched on pseudo-psychology/pseudo-science (also known as junk science, which is not science at all), and we’ve stated that Straight Inc. operated on pseudo-science and pseudo-psychology.

So the next logical question is what was Straight, Inc.?

What was Straight, Inc.?

Straight, Inc. was most well known as “the premier adolescent drug rehabilitation program in the U.S.” Legally it was considered an adolescent ‘day care program with a foster home component.’ The program was so controversial that the answer to this question will vary depending on who you ask.

There have been many stories that have been a part of the Straight, Inc. folklore. The most prominent story that was portrayed inside the program and in the media was that a group of concerned parents from the community got together and decided to do something about the teen drug problem, so they opened a program that operated on peer pressure. Their tagline was “kids helping kids, parents helping parents, and families helping families.” A sliver of this folktale is truth, but it doesn’t begin to touch on the full background story of this program.

It is true that the people who founded Straight, Inc. were parents, and most were concerned about the teen drug problem, but that wasn’t the entire story. This group of parents had met when they enrolled their own children in another controversial program called The Seed, Inc., the first adolescent drug rehab of its kind. There was a story that when the Seed, Inc. program left the St. Petersburg, FL area, it left a need for another adolescent help program.

This group of parents were supposedly going to start a new program which was a ‘kinder and gentler’ version of the Seed, Inc. This was the reason for the logo being a heart created from two ‘S’s. It was going to be like the Seed, only with more heart.

One former client decided to conduct a phone interview with one of the original board members of Straight, Inc. to find out how and why Straight, Inc. was opened.

My title for this interview is:

The Road to Hell is Paved with Good Intentions

(Edited only for clarity)

November 24, 2001 at 6:30pm

What were the original principles of Straight, Inc.?
We wanted Straight to have a heart. We felt the Seed had lost that, they had forgotten they were dealing with children. We wanted to take the good from the Seed and leave the bad. The problem was that Mel [Sembler] brought most of the troublemakers from the Seed with him.

That was the whole idea behind the heart logo. We wanted Straight to have a heart.

You see, at the Seed if you didn’t do right they would shun you, the kids at school and stuff. We wanted none of that. No shunning. We wanted the kids to know we cared. We wanted Straight to have a heart. But then all of the sudden the building wasn’t good enough.

What was your opinion on Straight?
You see, what was beginning to happen in Straight was the same thing that happened in the Seed that made it close down. They were moving away from what we wanted. You see, the first building, well, it was not in the upper middle class section of town and we all thought that was good because we wanted all kids. You know blacks, whites, rich or poor. We wanted to take all kids. If the principles originally installed had been followed it would have been a viable program.

You said the suddenly the building wasn’t good enough, what does that mean?
I guess the idea started about April of 1976. We had a goal to move into the building by September 1, 1976 and myself and another parent worked hours and hours with cleaning up this building. When we got it, it had all kinds of music stuff in it. It had been used for storage and we had to clean it up, build walls, bring it to code, and stuff like that.

I was in charge of that. I kept a log book of everything we did to that building. I remember one day Laura, Charlie Morgan’s wife walking in while I was writing in my book and she said to me,

“What are you doing?”

“I keep a log of all that we do to the building and I’m writing down item number 71. See, we have completed these seventy one things.”

She said, “Good Lord that is not a log, that’s a book!”

I just tossed that logbook out about three or four years ago. I didn’t think I would ever need it again. You know how you go through your house and do a thorough cleaning, well, I was moving into a condo and had to get rid of some stuff.

Anyway, it wasn’t long before they started pulling dirty stunts.

Who was pulling dirty stunts, and what dirty stunts were they pulling?
Suddenly the building wasn’t good enough. Suddenly they wanted a different building, in a different neighborhood. Now I’m not saying that Mel [Sembler] is prejudice, I’m just saying it felt like all they started to want was white kids.

Did you donate the original building?
No, I worked closely with ________of _______ Lumber who donated the building. He donated most of the material for the building too.

What was your position at Straight Inc.?
Well, I was the first Vice President in charge of the building. That would be the physical building. I was in charge of getting it ready and all.

How long were you there?
Not long.

Were you one of those that left within the first year?
Yes.

What prompted you to leave your position after such a short period of time?
Well, one thing was the “Come-Down” raps were getting way out of hand.

Can you explain what you mean by “out of hand”?
In the Seed, only the Senior Staff could do ‘Come-Down’ raps because they were trained people, or were kids in the program that had been through the program and knew what they were talking about. I started to hear from some of my foster children that they were letting everybody do the ‘Come-Down’ raps. You know, like even newcomers who had no idea what they were talking about, the whole group was doing it and it didn’t matter if they knew what they were saying was true or not. That bothered me a lot. You have to be careful with the “come-down” raps because they can destroy someone’s mind for good.

You said that was one thing that bothered you, was there more?
Yes, a lot of us were starting to get the cold shoulder, like we didn’t matter to the other executives. We didn’t like that. We didn’t want any part of that shunning business. We wanted Straight to have a heart. I also started getting feedback from other kids that they weren’t getting anything out of the program.
Mel use to call me ‘boy’ like he was some master or something and the building was not being maintained. They wouldn’t clean up at night or they would leave coffee pots on which is a fire hazard. We would put up light fixtures and soon there would be no light fixture again, just a bulb hanging from the ceiling with wires exposed. We were trying to teach these kids to take pride in themselves, take care of themselves and they weren’t taking care of the building.

So you are saying that the building was not properly maintained?
No, it wasn’t being maintained. I’ll be honest with you, one night they called me and asked me to go to the building to see if I could fix the safe because they couldn’t get in to it that day. So, I went to the building and when I walked in I saw this light that was left turned on and just dangling from the ceiling. It was one of the few that we had just put a new fixture on and I’m not so sure that we wouldn’t have had a fire that nigh if I hadn’t walked in. So, I turned the light off and went about fixing the safe. Well, I finally got the safe open and what do I find? A big bag of marijuana that was supposed to have already been turned over to the police. You see we had a policy that any drugs found on kids would be turned over to the police within three days.

How do you know the drugs had been in the safe for longer than the three day maximum?
The first fifty kids in the program were screened with their parents very thoroughly for about five hours or so. We insisted on parental involvement because if the kid didn’t have the right environment to return to or the parents weren’t involved, then it was a waste of time. We screened all the kids and I imagine that the pot was found when those kids were first brought in. That just won’t fly. I mean here we are a drug rehab and they are keeping pot in the safe.

Did you say anything about the drugs?
Yes, that is what prompted my leaving. I had these complaints and then I drafted a letter.
Oh, and Helen Petermann. She was another problem. She was, well, I don’t know how to put it. Hitler is the only way to put it. She was very dictatorial and she had no warmth. She came in there like these kids are rotten and she didn’t care how they felt. They were going to do what she said. She loved the ‘come-down’ raps. You could see that she loved every minute of it. That bothered me. We wanted Straight to have a heart and to remember these were children we were dealing with. In fact, the vote to bring her on board was just one short of a denial.

What were Helen Petermann’s credentials?
I don’t think she even had her high school diploma. I think she was a drop out. Then they brought in this guy Jim Hartz. He was introduced to us as someone who was a good youth administrator. I think the only reason Helen voted him in was because she could control him. I think that was Jim’s problem because he was basically a good guy, but Helen had him wrapped around her finger.

Earlier you mentioned you wrote a letter with your complaints. What happened when you wrote the letter?
The letter I wrote prompted an executive meeting. In fact, I remember telling one of the executives that we better leave because if they continue like this we are going to be in court more times than we can count, because they will get sued.

They had my list of issues and there were a lot of people on the board on my side. I’ll never forget it. Betty, Mel Sembler’s wife, started out with “Pleased to see you again.” Then she read the issues and then she started “You son of a bitch who do you think you are to question anything my husband does?” Well that was it for me, I got up and walked out and she was still yelling when I walked out of the door. I think a few others might have walked with me too. I walked out and never looked back.

We’ve heard eleven of the board members left very early on, is this true?
Yes, it’s true. If they didn’t leave that day, it was shortly after that.

So that was the day you left, correct?
Yes Do you remember what day that was?
Well let’s see, I was only there about a year, year and a half, so if I started in April of 1976, it would have been either in 1977 or early 1978.

Are you aware of the number of suicides among the children that were in Straight? Some that are directly related to Straight and others we can’t prove are because of Straight, but a lot of circumstantial evidence points to that in my opinion and some of these suicides happened either while on staff or shortly after leaving the program. Were you aware of any of this?

Are you aware of the past and present allegations against Straight for abuse?
Abuse? Like child abuse?

Yes, like lack of food, liquids and sleep and not receiving necessary medical treatment. People getting pinned to a floor with other people sitting on every part of their body. Girls got raped by executive staff, and boy newcomers got raped in their foster homes and it never got reported. In one case a girl watch her brother’s head get slammed through a wall and when she jumped out of group to go save him, she was tackled, restrained, and then pinned to the floor by several other enrollees while she listened to her brother scream. No privacy, not being able to use the bathroom by yourself. Not being able to read anything including the Bible until second phase and that would include a billboard sign on the way into the building. (Pause) Are you there?
Yes, just a moment please….. (Crying)(Pause)(Still crying) Oh my God…………….I’m so sorry………….I’m so sorry……………..Oh God……………I didn’t know……………..when I left I left and never looked back. Every time I saw an article in the paper on Straight I would just throw it away. Over the years I may have hear one or two things but you know when kids get into group they brag about the drugs they did. I thought maybe it was just a few kids going overboard or something.
Oh….My…. God…..abuse…..oh, God…….

I don’t usually share this with the people I interview but you have been very honest with me. The reason the [Straight, Inc.] survivors have me doing these interviews is because I am a survivor.
So you know first-hand that it is true.

Yes, I do. In fact, the stories I just mentioned were my own except for one.(Crying) Oh my God…….I’m sorry……..I’m so sorry…..Oh God…….I wish I had never completed that building……I feel like I built a building that killed kids…..I’m sorry…..

It’s okay, I applaud you for having courage to leave. You weren’t there when the abuse happened to me or when most of the abuse started or got way out of control.(Still crying) … Maybe I should have done or said something when I left……Oh God…..I just left and never looked back. We never dreamed it would end up like that…None of us expected it to get like that…..I’m so sorry…..maybe we should have done more than just walk out.

It’s okay, you are talking to me now, and… you know I’ve been fighting Straight, Inc. since I was seventeen years old and I am 37 year old now. In all those years, in all of those court cases, civil suits, articles and interviews, NOT ONCE….NOT ONCE…. did I ever hear anyone say they were sorry. You don’t know how healing that is to hear, even though you weren’t there when it happened to me. Just you talking helps.(Still crying) You know, that was always an unfinished chapter in my life. I just walked. Maybe this is God’s way of helping me to close that chapter. I’m a very religious man. I’ll help any way that I can. I will do anything I can to help you survivors. You know I have a lot of church projects going on but maybe this God’s way of telling me what I’m supposed to be doing.

Thank you. You know, if you’re just willing to tell people what the original intentions were, that helps. A lot of us survivors have been walking around for years thinking, “Who dreamed up this hell?” “What kind of sick person starts a program like this?”
I’ll be happy to talk to any of them. That was not the original intention. We wanted to help kids, all kids. We wanted Straight to have a heart to remember they were dealing with children….Oh my God…. How many kids went through the program?

Close to or over twenty thousand
Oh….my God…..NO…..OH God…….
You know I’ve talked to about 150 survivors or more. Not one that I know of has not attempted suicide.
HOLY….Oh my God…..I’m sorry….. I wish I had never, ever finished that building….

It’s okay, you can help now, just by talking to the survivors or even talking to the original eleven or so that left and ask them to share their story with us.Yes hang on, I think I have some names and numbers for you.(He gives some information)
I’ll do anything I can to help.

If you could help us with that original eleven that would be great. A lot of survivors are real attached to that Morgan Yacht building but we think the current owner is somehow tied to Sembler so it might be hard for us to get it. Maybe someone in that original eleven can help us get that building. We want to put a memorial in the big group room.(Tearing up again) A memorial…..oh wow….that would be great…..I’m so sorry for what happened to you and everyone. You can give my phone number out to any survivor. I’ll try to talk to the ones I know and see if we can’t do something. You give my number to anyone that needs to know what the original plan was or needs to hear that at one point it was an idea about helping and caring NOT destroying. Have you talked to Charlie [Morgan]?

Yes, I spoke with him last night. I didn’t go into all the details about the abuse. I just wanted his advice on the building. I’m supposed to call him back. He said he would help any way he can.
You should tell him. Charlie Morgan is a great guy and he will help.
You call me anytime. ANYTIME.

Thank you, I really appreciate you talking to me.
It’s the least I can do and if I can talk to the others I will.

The interview ended with discussing the Bucs game that was on television at that time.

5 Comments

Tearing up. Sorry. Springfield, VA Nov 86 to end of March 87 when I turned 18 and left with just the clothes on my back. I don’t think I can adequately explain the hell it was. The lies we were forced to tell. The abuse we endured and witnessed. Thank you.

You are very welcome. The more you learn, the more bizarre it becomes. It’s amazing how many of us survived the ordeal.

Most adolescents are assigned George Orwell’s 1984 to read in high school english class. In the 1980’s we weren’t allowed to go to school and had to live in a mini Orwellian world, one in which there were times when I thought I would be trapped in that hell forever.

I’m thankful, we survived, but this story must be told as a precautionary tale, and because there are still so many programs like this that are still in operation.

I read the above and Im in a pool of tears. I have not thought about the four times I tried to kill myself right after I escaped. Talk about damn lucky. I once injected a half gram of coke and 14 bags of heroin. I woke up frozen to the grass the next afternoon.

You know I’ve talked to about 150 survivors or more. Not one that I know of has not attempted suicide.
HOLY….Oh my God…..I’m sorry….. I wish I had never, ever finished that building….